What is Liberatory Leadership?

One of the most fun pieces of entrepreneurship is in the self-naming process. I've seen titles ranging from clever to curious to comedic and I love them all. So as I was thinking about the titles I wanted to use apart from my social identities, I landed on Liberatory Leadership Coach, Facilitator, Radical Social Worker and Emergent Strategist.

This blog post will focus on the Liberatory Leadership piece.

But If you're curious about the Emergent Strategist piece, check out THIS POST or THAT POST or THIS ONE right over there.

Alright, let's get into it!

What is Liberatory Leadership?

Let's break these two words apart and define them separately first.

Liberation or Liberatory: is the act of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression; freedom from limits on thought or behavior.

Finding a definition for Leadership was more tricky because it seemed so dependent on things I don't agree with or don't speak to the way I've seen leadership in my life. (I get into more of the specific things I don't dig about traditional ways of defining leadership in this podcast episode.)

So I came up with my own definition based on my experience working with leaders and my own leadership development. I purposely wanted to use a definition that was more inclusive of folks who were leading in their lives apart from in formal, work titles. Here’s what I came up with:

Leadership: is the process of being responsible for and responsive to self and others. 

So if I were to put these two together in an expansive way, here’s what I would say:

Liberatory Leadership is an ongoing practice grounded in showing up in a way that sets people free.

If you're like:

That's okay! I invite you to keep reading and if you are not less confused by the end of this post, you can comment below and we can figure this thing out together.

Liberatory Leadership is an intention about the ways we want to show up in leadership and life that has the possibility of setting another person free (us included) from whatever is getting in the way of living in their full humanity.

Personally, I'm always thinking "What can I say to set this person free?". At different times that could be witnessing where this person is without fixing or telling this person that their struggle is not an individual shame-filled, moral defect or asking permission to try out different strategies or exercises to help move through the difficulty.

Why I think you should care about this?

Look, we see examples of 'traditional' leadership all the time; from elected officials to public figures to whoever is the coolest person in the thing you're obsessed with right now.

The issue is that usually the leaders we see, don’t look like us or don’t operate in the same ways we do or may not have the same values that we do and so there's not a lot of representation or even a blueprint for how to lead in a way that feels right to you.

And so we might shy away from "formal" leadership or even identifying as someone that is a leader because we think it has to look a particularly kind of way bbbuuuutttt...

Liberatory Leadership is really about…

1. Recognizing that we are all swimming in an ocean of white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, ableism, patriarchy, heterosexism and the list goes on which means none of us is immune from internalizing that shit (even those of us that lean Left, progressive, social justice, etc.)
2. Acknowledging that we need to regularly flush out those systems of oppression and socialization from the ways we show up as leaders as part of the ongoing work for us to reduce harm and increase freedom.
3. Building a greater understanding about the emotions that come up as we experience our struggles and to remind ourselves that these things are normal and that we are not wrong for feeling the way that we do. Emotions are data.
4. Practicing the different skills that we need to navigate those difficult moments by resourcing our energy so that we are not operating from a place of lack or we know when we need to tap out without the shame or guilt.
5. And it’s about having a systemic, anti-oppression analysis so that we don't succumb to self-gaslighting and can approach opportunities from various approaches with the goal of doing right by the most people and planet

I'm guessing if you made it to this corner of the internet, that you and I are interested in this because we aren’t looking for ways to dominate, control or convince others to do what we want to do.

What we want is to discover news ways to include more voices and ideas into the present, to bring our whole selves into all facets of our lives and to do work that helps us get closer to un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos / a world where many worlds fit, as the Zapatistas described.

If you don't know this already, I am most interested in working with folx in historically marginalized identities because I whole-heartedly believe: 

You belong here. You are uniquely suited to do the work you’re doing, with the people you are doing it with, for the people you are doing it for. IT’S YOU. You belong here.

And I want to help you do that with more purpose and trust and less anxiety and pressure from perfection (which is also a characteristic of White Supremacy culture.)

How can you cultivate liberatory power?

Okay, so boom! At the heart of Liberatory Leadership is liberatory power.

Like we did with Liberatory Leadership, I'm going to define how I'm thinking about power.

I can't for the life of me find where I found this definition but since I've found it, it's been so essential to my work and understanding of the world.

Power: is the ability to determine reality. 

Allow me to put this into context:

• When I worked with parents to organize campaigns to keep their beloved child's schools open, we were building power. We wanted a reality where those schools stayed open.
• When my team and I developed data-centered arguments to convince our organizational leadership to not move forward with a decision that would exclude our current client base, we were using our power. We wanted a reality where we were loyal to our clients and we know that the language we needed to speak was a data-driven one.
• When I decided to stop relaxing my hair in college because I felt like I was perpetuating the idea that my natural, kinky-curls did not fit beauty standards, I reclaimed my power. I wanted to live in a reality where I wasn't committed to burning off the pieces of me that didn't fit the norm.

I hope you're picking up what I'm putting down here! But just to be sure:

Liberatory Power: is the ability to determine reality in a way that sets people free.

Now that we got that covered, let's get into what I recommend is needed to cultivate liberatory power in our leadership and life and for my visual homies, here's a cute Venn diagram I created:

The 3 core pieces include: Evolving Skills + Energy Resourcing + Adaptive Impact.

1. Evolving Skills

• Definition: Evolving means developing gradually, especially from a simple to a complex form.
• Description: From my experience, there are specific skills that help us shift, expand, know, deepen, trust, all of that. I’ve found that in order to show up congruently, the 3 skills to hone in are: Compassion, Curiosity and Courage. 
• Context: Let’s take compassion. If we were more compassionate with ourselves and/or with others, then that would expand our kindness, love, understanding and/or acceptance to acknowledge the truth of the situation. As you know, oppression, conditioning and trauma can teach us to harden as a means of protection. These skills allow us to be more humane to ourselves and to others.
• Example: One of my trauma responses was to push people away in fear of rejection when what I really craved was to belong, to be in community. What if I had compassion as a skill that was readily available to me instead of fear or shame. I bet that compassion would have allowed me to remember that I had good reason to be afraid of connection, that vulnerability was a strength of mine and that I could trust myself to make good choices about who I did choose to be in relationship with.

2. Energy Resourcing

• Definition: The Latin derivative for the word energy literally means energy in motion. 
• Description: I’ve noticed and have experienced first hand, the ways that the mismanagement of our energy and emotions has negatively impacted our ability to manage change and take grounded actions (an essential skill if liberation is our desire). I’ve found that in order to show up sustainably, there are three must-haves to have in place: Rituals & Practices, Co- & Self-Regulation and Collective Interdependence [with People + the Planet]
• Context: Let’s take the Co- & Self-Regulation piece. Why does this matter? Many of us may be feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, hopeless or empty. In the same way that our planet's resources are depleting, so is our energy. It’s all connected. If we are to show up powerfully and fully in our lives, knowing how to fill our individual and collective cups is fundamental, knowing how to ask, receive and give help is fundamental, and knowing how to ride the wave of difficult emotions is fundamental.
• Example: Consider this: What if instead of avoiding, fighting or numbing difficult emotions, we knew that the range of emotions will always be at the party and that we get to decide whether we dance, take a break or make small talk with them. Better yet, what if we knew what exercises and activities we could do to process your emotions, self-sooth when needs it or discern whether these emotions could serve social change? As I said before emotions are data, I don't believe they need to kick us out of our integrity but instead bringing us closer to showing up in the ways we would like.

3. Adaptive Impact

• Definition: Being adaptive involves being flexible and responsive to change. 
• Description: It’s really about knowing that change is inevitable, so we might as well work with it. It’s not stagnant, in the same way that impact is not one-and-done. We will always be evaluating our impact on people and the planet. I’ve found that in order to show up intentionally, there are three facets to keep in mind: Anti-Oppression Analysis, Values Alignment and Experimentation.
• Context: Let’s dig into the Values Alignment. One of the ways our impact can be more precise is by identifying our values along with the actions, thoughts and beliefs that would support that particular value. Values could include phrases or keywords that you want to live by or model your leadership by. 
• Example: Want 3 steps to turn values into action? Want examples to see what this could look like in practice? Check out THIS BLOG POST.

So let's imagine you had an experience that approached leadership from the perspective of these 3 core pieces.

What possibilities could be realized for you, your people and future generations to come?

How would you show up differently if you trusted yourself to make good choices in the midst of struggles? if your energy was your friend? or if you felt confident in the type of impact you were making in your lifetime? 

This is the framework that sets the stage for all the work I do with individuals, groups and organizations.

If this sounds like the thing that's been missing in your leadership and life, THIS LINK includes all the ways you can work with me.

Not ready to take that next step? I'd highly recommend checking out the A Daily Practice Workbook HERE to start building intentional practices that lead to grounded actions on your own time.

LET'S KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

• HAVE QUESTIONS? Comment below!
• GOT A-HA MOMENT? Feel free to share below and help someone else out!

📌 NOTE: These comments will be public so folx can engage with each other. I hope this kicks off fruitful conversation for all of us📌